Airtel Nigeria took in $1.01 billion in sales between April and September 2026, according to its financial statements, its first six-month total above $1 billion since 2022, when the figure was $1.04 billion. SmartCash PSB, its mobile money arm, also posted its strongest six-month revenue yet, at $10 million, as it builds a banking service with no fees and 15% yearly interest on savings.
The unit is developing that offer, and the effort is starting to pay off.
Why Airtel Nigeria's revenue is recovering
Airtel Nigeria, which now counts 61.7 million customers, appears to be recovering from the exchange-rate swings that dented its profits following the 2023 devaluation of the Naira. From 2025, a steadier Naira and official clearance for tariffs that follow market conditions have lifted sales across the industry. For comparison, MTN Nigeria's sales for the first nine months of 2025 rose 23.6% to ₦4.61 trillion ($3.42 billion).
Airtel Africa explained the Nigerian unit's results this way: “Higher reported currency growth compared to constant currency growth was due to the appreciation in the Nigerian Naira from a weighted average NGN/USD rate of 1,553 in prior period to NGN/USD 1,360 in current period.”
Airtel Nigeria's revenue grew by 44.62%, and that growth also brought a 27.27% rise in the average revenue it earns from each user.
Currency effects were not the only factor, as higher data usage played its part too:
- Smartphone penetration across the customer base hit 56.8%.
- Each customer now uses 16.7 GB of data a month on a smartphone, up from 12.7 GB a year earlier.
Group results and rising costs
Group-wide, Airtel Africa's revenue climbed 28.20% to $3.82 billion, helped along by the stronger showing in Nigeria. Earnings over the period also went up, by 20.21%, reaching $452 million.
“Reported currency revenue growth was higher than constant currency growth reflecting currency appreciation in Nigeria and Zambia,” Airtel Africa said.
Margins, though, are starting to feel the strain of higher operating costs. The company pointed to recent geopolitical events, which have seen the cost of petrol and diesel in Nigeria double, as a drag on its profitability.
“Our cost efficiency programme mitigated these pressures, limiting the sequential margin decline to approximately 130 bps, from 58.8% in Q1’27 to 57.5% in Q2’27. Operating free cash flow increased by 28.2% to $409m driven by strong underlying EBITDA growth, despite significantly higher capex during the period,” the company said.
SmartCash revenue at Airtel Nigeria up 150%
Across the half-year, SmartCash PSB, the mobile money arm of Airtel Nigeria, grew its customer base by 110% to 4.2 million, while its revenue rose 150% to $10 million.
Even so, SmartCash is still the least sizeable among the mobile money businesses of Airtel Africa, accounting for only 1.19% of group revenue. Its latest numbers nonetheless hint that Airtel Nigeria's push to create a stronger rival in mobile money is starting to pay off.
In March 2026, SmartCash reported that nearly three million customers were using the platform on a regular basis, as it continued to lean into a model of no banking charges and a 15% yearly return on savings.
Airtel Africa's accounts for the nine-month period show that SmartCash's turnover reached just $6 million as at December 2025. The new figure of $10 million is a 66.67% rise on that earlier amount.
Mobile money rivals and OPay's lead
Against this backdrop of rivalry, the expansion arrives as each of Nigeria's mobile network operators strengthens its own wallet services, all hoping to win a bigger slice of the market for digital financial services across the country.
In August 2026, MoMo PSB, the mobile wallet arm of MTN Nigeria, moved onto a new platform built on Alipay+, which upgraded its fintech infrastructure. Following the switch, earnings from its main mobile money operation climbed by 102.2%, while the balances held in wallets expanded by over four times to reach ₦43.8 billion ($32.54 million).
Even so, SmartCash is far from matching the market leaders. OPay, the biggest player in Nigeria's mobile money sector, recorded $467.06 million in sales across the opening six months of 2026.
